‘This Is Us’ Simmers Crock-Pot Feud in New Super Bowl Promo

This Is Us fans will have to wait until after the Super Bowl to learn the exact circumstances of Jack’s fate, but Crock-Pot is getting an early reprieve. Following fan uproar over the appliance brand’s involvement in a deadly fictional fire, Milo Ventimiglia and NBC try to squash the beef with a new ad.

The minute-long Super Bowl spot sees Ventimiglia extolling the virtue of friends and family getting together for the big game, before warning that the country’s divisiveness can bring tensions to a boil. Instead, the actor urges forgiveness and suggests “there is no difference so great that we cannot overcome it,” before serving himself chili from a Crock-Pot. As if that weren’t enough, the ad closes with the hashtag “#CrockPotIsInnocent.”

The prior This Is Us episode had established that a faulty Crock-Pot was responsible for the fire that consumed the Pearson household, and presumably took Ventimiglia’s Jack with it. Immediately after the airing, completely rational internet users then took to bashing the brand over social media, for which both Crock-Pot representatives and This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman issued statements assuring viewers of the device’s safety record.

It’s entirely possible Sunday’s This Is Us will reveals some alternate cause of Jack’s fate, but hopefully Crock-Pot can finally put this dark chapter of its history behind it.